A year on duty and my LiFePo4 Antigravity H7 is doing the job.

[Planerdude]

I don’t see many posts about this type of battery tech being used in Gladiators, so I decided to make mine the guinea pig.

Why not add add the small antigravity battery for the aux as well. My kid did this in his ML 350, here in Vegas, 2 years ago and its doing great.
For context:

• I’m in the San Francisco Bay Area—no extreme heat or cold.
• My Gladiator lives in a condo parking garage.
• Before the swap, I ran an Aux Battery Delete for about a year. Antigravity recommends not connecting their batteries in series or parallel, so I took that to mean Aux Delete is basically required.
• The old battery was an Optima AGM H7.
• Yes, I have parasitic draw (who doesn’t?). I haven’t bothered chasing it down.
• I installed a hood-mounted solar panel to offset that draw.
• It’s a daily driver, but my commute is short—another reason for the solar panel.

It’s been a week now, and none of the issues people on the internet warn about have shown up. The main complaints I’ve read are the BMS cutting off when the alternator outputs more than 14.4V, or when ambient temps are outside 33–113°F. Honestly, those warnings often sound like they came from “a guy who heard from a guy who read a post from another guy.”


I’ll post updates as I get more miles on it. In the meantime, if you have first-hand experience with this battery or a similar one, please share—it’d be great to compare notes.

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[GladiatorPilot23]

So both battery's are fine. I figured out that the flashing red lights are normal for the Optimate charger to restore the battery. I though the battery was bad but it is not. I canceled the Antigravity Charger since I have the Optimate. Its slow but looks like it can recharge badly depleted. I was only at 12.3V when it went to sleep mode.

So what happened? Well I think because I left my key inside. Its proximity I think put the car in a standby mode which drain the battery. So why didn't the backup jump system work. I was using the remote and I think the battery was not good. The push button on the battery was hidden with the battery thermal cover and a yellow label with cautionary info. Now I know the location in case. The Aux battery is hard to reach to push on but once the Aux detects volts, it comes back to life is how it's designed. So once the main battery is asleep with the 20% backup, I will use the remote or push the button and the Aux will also come back to life when it detects any volts. I will get take with me on trips thier top model jump pack the XP-20 HD.

Ill keep an eye with volts with thier battery Bluetooth tracker if I'm getting any drop in power.

 

[remlemasi]

Good info. Do you use ESS? If not, just curious why you still choose to run the Aux battery? If yes, nvm…

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Good info. Do you use ESS? If not, just curious why you still choose to run the Aux battery? If yes, nvm…

Yes I love ESS and Motor OIl Geek did a vid on lower engine wear using it due to much less fuel dilution. Also, less fuel! Not record high but Im setting it at 28.4 MPG. Im going to 37s but the 11.5" width to help with weight and not add more width lowering rotational friction.

Why do I keep the AUX. The factory system is GREAT if you use a these Antigravity batteries. The problem is lead acid. They sulfate and die and lose capacity fast. This causes the issues. When the main dies it kills the aux when the aux dies it kills the main. With the Lifep04 Li-ion battery like this, it has a very long life and duty cycle with no memory and sulfating issues. In effect the AUX is now just an extension of the main in capacity. In my case that would be 80AH main and 12AH Aux.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yes I love ESS and Motor OIl Geek did a vid on lower engine wear using it due to much less fuel dilution. Also, less fuel! Not record high but Im setting it at 28.4 MPG. Im going to 37s but the 11.5" width to help with weight and not add more width lowering rotational friction.

Why do I keep the AUX. The factory system is GREAT if you use a these Antigravity batteries. The problem is lead acid. They sulfate and die and lose capacity fast. This causes the issues. When the main dies it kills the aux when the aux dies it kills the main. With the Lifep04 Li-ion battery like this, it has a very long life and duty cycle with no memory and sulfating issues. In effect the AUX is now just an extension of the main in capacity. In my case that would be 80AH main and 12AH Aux.

Independent studies show a fair amount of saving for a typical driver. Of course, there will be extreme exceptions on either end - some will see nothing, others will see more.
My wife loves it as she's a person who brags about how far she can go on a tank of fuel. She even brags about bringing back a loaner or rental with a higher average than what it was when she picked it up. We've proven it saves us.

The issue is modern vehicles and how much parasitic drain there is vs. how they are driven - or NOT driven.
Someone was talking about a vehicle and how the battery was not lasting, was always down, and someone at the dealership suggested that they were not driving it enough, and perhaps needed to keep it charged up and it pissed her off - sorry, I agree with the dealership shop on this - you don't drive the thing, then gripe when they suggest how to make the batteries last a lot longer? This isn't 1960. Even the radios of the 80s could draw down a battery over time with a constant draw (ask me how I know - with my classic cars)
and NO, it does NOT wear out starters fast! Good grief. The engine was designed with ESS in mind. It's been around since before some people here were born.

Back to the topic - tip to lurkers - use batteries of like type/chemistry/construction and age in any multiple battery situation. You can get by with replacing one at a time, but it's not ideal for reasons I won't drag out here.
Even some of the fancy designer brand AGM batteries are not like other AGM batteries, so don't use one of those and then keep the plain AGM in the other position. Replace them both.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Update: I did not drive for about 2 weeks and the battery went from 13.27v to 12.97v.

I confirmed that having the key sitting inside the car when parked will drain the battery quickly which was the cause of it draining on me.

 

[XraytecH]

Update: I did not drive for about 2 weeks and the battery went from 13.27v to 12.97v.

I confirmed that having the key sitting inside the car when parked will drain the battery quickly which was the cause of it draining on me.

Do you keep your JT in a garage, or is it parked outside? If it’s outside, you might want to consider adding a hood-mounted solar panel.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Update: I did not drive for about 2 weeks and the battery went from 13.27v to 12.97v.

I confirmed that having the key sitting inside the car when parked will drain the battery quickly which was the cause of it draining on me.

Two weeks, and that's it? That's all the more it dropped? That's actually pretty impressive

 

[XraytecH]

Two weeks, and that's it? That's all the more it dropped? That's actually pretty impressive

Agreed, battery dropped 0.3 volts over 2 weeks just sitting.

 

[GladiatorPilot23]

Do you keep your JT in a garage, or is it parked outside? If it’s outside, you might want to consider adding a hood-mounted solar panel.

Thanks they do look like something nice to get but mine is Garaged. I have a charge port for the battery under the hood and been using that but need to move it so I can do it without opening the hood. I like it charged so I use les Diesel to charge it.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Thanks they do look like something nice to get but mine is Garaged. I have a charge port for the battery under the hood and been using that but need to move it so I can do it without opening the hood. I like it charged so I use les Diesel to charge it.

Alternators aren't battery chargers anyway - they do poorly. They are to top it off after a startup.

 

[remlemasi]

Do you keep your JT in a garage, or is it parked outside? If it’s outside, you might want to consider adding a hood-mounted solar panel.

I got a 5W solar panel that I suction cup to the windshield, facing west, and it hooks up directly to the OBD port to trickle charge the battery. No charge controller for this tiny panel

Update: I did not drive for about 2 weeks and the battery went from 13.27v to 12.97v.

I confirmed that having the key sitting inside the car when parked will drain the battery quickly which was the cause of it draining on me.

I typically keep a backup key wrapped in foil in the glove compartment. Anyone else do this?

 

[ShadowsPapa]

I got a 5W solar panel that I suction cup to the windshield, facing west, and it hooks up directly to the OBD port to trickle charge the battery. No charge controller for this tiny panel

What sort of voltage does it put out?

 

[remlemasi]

What sort of voltage does it put out?

This is the product:
Renogy 5W Solar Trickle Charger... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QBY8FLQ

Open-circuit voltage = 23.5V
Voltage @ Pmax = 18V
Short-circuit current = 0.31A
Current @ Pmax = 0.28A

Everything I’ve read says pretty much zero risk of overcharging even with 5W in full sunlight all day. Battery voltage will bring the panel down to it. Additional safety factors include being behind a tinted windshield and quite vertically positioned. Provably less than 50% efficiency. I would probably be safe with even with a 10W panel, but 5W should be enough.

I bought this for the OBD port:
TECMATE Optimate Cable O-37,... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Y38WRSI

 

[XraytecH]

11 month mini update

Been away for about a week with my Gladiator parked in the garage.

Reading 13.3v on the dash prior to engine start up.

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